Holder for the flies of boots and shoes.



PATENTED NOV. 28, 1905.

M. BROGK. HOLDER FOR THE FLIES OF BOOTS AND SHOES.

APPLICATION FILED IEB.10, 1899.

W 55555. %X W MAT I'HASEINIHIK WI Wa UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MATTHIAS BROOK, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO VICTORIA SELF-LACING COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 1905.

Application filed February 10, 1399- Serial No. 705,190.

1'0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MATTHIAS BROOK, of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Holders for the Flies of Boots and Shoes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of a novel holder for engaging the eyelets in the flies of boots and shoes to retain said flies closed on the last during the process of lasting the shoe or otherwise operating on the shoe.

My novel holder in the form herein represented is composed of wire bent to present a plurality of pairs of engaging members having their ends shaped to enter opposite eyelet-holes on opposite sides of the shoe, the wire connecting one pair of engaging members with another pair thereof being bent to yield and enable one pair of the engaging members to be moved toward or away from the other pair to thereby adapt the holders to the spacing of the-eyelets.

The particular'features in which my inven tion consists will be hereinafter more fully described, and pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

Figure 1 shows my improved holder applied to the flies of a shoe in operative position. Fig. 2 shows one engaging member of each pair disengaged from a fly, the other engaging member of each pair being retained in the opposed fly. Fig. 3 shows the holder detached in perspective, and Fig. 4 shows the holder engaged with one fly in the position it may occupy when the last is removed.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the upper of a shoe, having flies (1 provided with eyelets a.

My improved holder is herein shown as composed of two pairs of engaging members, the said engaging members presenting, respectively, acting portions 1) b c c. The portions 1) and c, or prongs, are bent oppositely one from the other from the wire cl at the points 2 3, leaving the said portions 6 0 standing in a plane substantially in line with the length of the row of eyelets at one side of the fly. The engaging members I) c are shown as hooks adapted to enter the holes in the eyelets from their outer sides. These pairs of engaging members are connected by a spring portion 6. The engaging members and the spring portion may be made from one and the same piece of spring-wire, or the spring portion might carry at its ends any usual or suitable metallic engaging members presenting at one end a hook and at the other end a projection or prong, as b or c.

The holder is herein shown as provided with a finger-piece f, represented as formed by a bend in the wire.

To apply the holder to the flies of a boot or shoe, the engaging members I) c of hook shape will be inserted into adjacent eyeletholes of one fly, and the operator will then take the shanks of the two engaging members between his thumb and forefinger and move the same one toward the other, the spring portion e at such time yielding, so that the engaging members I) and 0 will be moved one toward the other sufliciently to enable their points to come opposite and enter the holes in the eyelets of the opposite fly, and the operator will then release the holder from pressure, permitting the spring to expand and move the engaging members I) c away from each other, causing them to engage the edges of said eyelets. In this way it will be noticed that the holder is firmly and securely applied to the flies and will retain said flies together during the operation of lasting or otherwise operating on the shoe.

To remove this holder, it is only necessary to pinch or compress the shanks and cause the prongs Z) and c of the engaging members by such movement to retire from the eyeletholes, leaving the holder free to be removed from the shoe.

This invention is not limited to the exact construction or shape shown for the holder or the spring portion or engaging members, as it will be obvious that 'the spring portion might be variously shaped or modified and that the engaging members might be difl'erently shaped without departing from my invention.

In the absence of a more concise and better term to designate the eyeleted parts of the shoe to be connected by a shoe-lacing I have used the terms fly and flies to designate such eyeleted edges.

Another great advantage to be derived from the use of the holder herein described is that after the last has been pulled out of the shoe the prongs or end members I) 0 may be inserted in the eyelet-holes at one side of the fly (see Fig. 4) and kept there during the various stages of completing the shoe until it reaches the treer, and when treeing the shoe the hooks may be readily made to engage again the eyelets of the opposed fly, holding the shoe closed, so that the follower contained therein may be expanded to fit the shoe and adapt it to be treed. Such holding together of the flies during the treeing operation, which may be performed either with a stick or other instrument, insures that the upper will be so held firmly and taut about the follower as to obviate the possibility of leaving any wrinkles in the upper or in the shank of the shoe, such as would be liable to be left there were not the flies of the shoe fastened together by the holder.

The fastener herein shown is the only one known to me having a plurality of pairs of engaging members in which one member of each pair of engaging members may be unhooked from one fly of a shoe, leaving the opposite member of each pair in operative engagement with an eyelet of the opposite fly to be retained therein during the diflerent manipulations of the shoe in the process of making it.

A novel feature of this holder, whereby it is adapted to be readily applied to the eyelet of one fly and to retain automatically its engagement with said eyelet, depends upon the fact that the engaging members at one side of the holder present a plurality of prongs movable one toward the other, a spring acting to normally keep the prongs in engagement with the eyelet after the same have once been put into the eyelet-holes, so that it is necessary to neutralize the force of the spring before the prongs can be withdrawn to remove the holder.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 'is

1. A holder for the eyeleted flies of boots and shoes, composed of spring-wire bent to present a plurality of pairs of engaging members having their ends bent to enter opposed eyelets in opposite flies, the wire connecting one pair of engaging members with another pair being bent into spring form whereby it may yield and enable one pair of engaging members to be movedtoward or away from the other pair to adapt the holder to the spacing of the eyelets.

2. A holder for the flies of boots and shoes, presenting a plurality of pairs of engaging members, each. pair of engaging members having a hook to enter an eyelet in one fly and a projecting prong to enter an eyelet in the opposed fly, the said prongs'being turned substantially in the direction of the length of the holder, and a spring connecting said plurality of pairs of engaging members, substantially as described.

3. A holder for the flies of boots and shoes, composed of wire bent to present a central spring, and a pair of engaging devices at each end, one engaging device of each pair being shaped as a hook and the other device as a single prong, the said prongs at the free ends of the wire being adapted to enter eyeletholes in one fly to retain the holder in place.

4;. A holder for the flies of boots and shoes, composed of spring-wire provided at or near each end with. a pair of eyelet-engaging devices, one device of each pair consisting of a hook presenting two thicknesses of wire, the other device of each pair being turned in opposite directions and capable of being moved one toward and from the other in the direction of the length of the row of eyelets in the fly, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

lVlATTHIAS BROOK.

WVitnesses:

GEo. W. GREGORY, MARGARET A. DUNN. 

